The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-11-11

had a conversation with her In the spring Of
1860. had an errand down town one day,
and as came from my house 10 go down l
noticed Mrs. Belcher in her front yard, and
crossed the street 10 speak with her. After
we had passed the time Of day she said to
me, i have been hearing some criticisms In
regard To the course OF Judge Parker and
the donation which he made 10 the school at
Lewiston. What do you think Of IL Mr..
BlakeY told her had heard but little OF
II and knew but little about 10. She said, Il
would like 10 talk with you, will you not
come imp went into the house with her.
should say. My recollection Is quite de-
finite, think, In relation 10 the import Of
that conversation, but the language cannot
give. She said, What do you think OF Judge
Parkers eourseY said 70 her, Mrs Belcher,
think he was wise, and turned the ques-
ton and said, What do you think OF 10 Mrs.
BeleherY We'll, i have been thinking Of it,
she said, and Judge Parker is a man whose
Judgment have the most perfect confidence
in and she said, 1 think Judge Parker Is
to-day very well pleased with the course he
has taken, and am Of the opinion that IL l
should Outlive my son / should do very mnch
as he has done. That Is the import Of that
conversation. may, perhaps, be reminded
moment. 1t was understood that Judge
Parker had given $500 10 the Maine State
Seminary. / remember that she asked me
In that conversation II ! thought II would be
cularly under the circumstances, and In the
event that her son should die before she and
the property come under her control, would
1t be good investment where II would be
doing good, an enduring good. 10 give II
where the Judge had given his, 1t being
new school just founded, and without reputa-
tiOn especially; she asked me about that
particularly Iremember nO.other converse
tion with Mrs Beleher In regard TO that
matter before | entered the service.
81 Mro Ralahar altar rafurnaH In tNa
last months Of 1868, but not 10 have any lcon-
yersatiOn with her. for two or three months.
l then called upon her, and she opened the
conversation upon this subject herself, by
erty that he left to Mr.. Fuller has been
squanderedY ! said that | had been absent
a good deal OF the time and had not heard
much about II, and she told me some things
that had not heard. and then / said, Mrs.
Belcher, do you think your decision that you
named 10 me In our conversation years ago
do you think that decision was a wise one?
and she said, i am more than ever convinced
Of it, She said the Maine State Seminary
has grown to be a college, have seen some
accounts In relation to It, and she referred
TO one. l cannot now recall in what paper
1t was; 1t may have been the village paper.
and she said, In connection with other
things, that they needed help, and she had
made up her mind to give 70 that. school
what she had II she ever had 1t TO give. i
remember Of remarking TO her In relation TO
the health Of Hiram that had
seen him on the street very busi-
ly engaged in business, as l took IL.
to be. driving hither and thither without any
regard to the weather or season Of the year,
and saying, You must feel as though 10 Is
exceedingly doubtful whether you ever have
the privilege Of doing what you say you
would now do II 1t was your privilege and
she said: The time was when we thought
Hiram was going very soon TO his grave. He
and my other son were both quite sick at
that time in the same way, and we thought
Benjamin would live and Hiram would die,
but Benjamin died and Hiram lived; but
still he has never been what you call a well
man since She said that he was subject 10
the fruits OF cOnSumptiVe seed at any time
That was her reply TO me In substance. i
said to her, You think you would have
right to dispose of this property II IL should
come into your hancs without any regard to
relatives, and her reply to me was, The
relatives have more money now than they
can use well, and | should feel under no
obligation to Them | remember she said
that she thought 1t would be altogether bet
ter TO give the property as a whole, that II
might be Of benefit to the institution, rather
than TO divide it up for different individuals,
or different parties or different schools"
Cross-examined-''In 1860 and 1868 | sup
posed that Mrs. Belcher had no property, at
that time"
Rev. James Boyd testified: II reside In
Newport, Me. / am a clergyman Of the
Free Baptist denomination. For number
Of years have devoted my time TO destitute
churches, and am now at Amesbury for
short time. | am occupied as a State mis-
sionary for that denomination the most OF
the time. In that capacity l called Gpon
Mrs. Sarah ). Beleher. at Pennington, In
May, 1882. My visit was after Mr.. Davis
had closed his pastoTate there, and L was.
looking after the Pennington church. ~
called upon Mrs. Belcher hoping to induce
her to DO specially liberal with her
own church, so they might supply pastor
ate, II could donation for the State mis-
sion work. That was my object In calling.
l Informed the woman who came tn the door
who l was, and she took me In where Mrs.
Beeher was and had some conversation
with her. l told her what my work was.
After some religious conversation and de-
votions, she invited me 10 stay to tea. l
was glad TO do so, because / wanted further
conversation with her. | had further con-
versation with Mrs. Belcher, In which 1
urged the Importance OF pastOrate there,
and also tried to have her see what we were
trying to do as a State mission, and related
10 her what others had done for US and
sought to interest her in our work. That
was my object. She said that some seemed
10 choose to do that way, 10 contribute 10
various causes, but she said II seemed to her
at least 10 be more satisfactory to keep the
property together. urged little the Inn
POrtanee OF our work, mentioning what SlO-
600 would do, that it would keep one In the
ing got ready she made this remark, for my
self, | have decided not 10 scatter my
substance and she rose from her chair
and told me to be seated at the
table, and said IL in such a way that IL ended
my conversation upon that subject. We had
no further conversation relating TO IL at that
time. This was on Saturday. Before left
on Monday, called upon Mrs. Beleher again.
Saturdays visit revealed what she would not
do, that she would not scatter her substance,
and | wanted. II | could, to interest her In
the State mission. and l went and laid the
matter before her again. She did not say
very much until, finally, after had told her
what we were doing, and related some In
stances where we were much blessed In our
work. =escuing several churches and help
ing the work, when she said, II think DR..
Cheney ia doing good work, and know OF
no more worthy object OF charity than Bates
College, and she rose from her chair and
went to drawer and got a 50 bill and told
me might add that TO the Sabbath cOllec-
ttOn. She did II In way that ended the con-
yersation.., l never saw Mrs. Belcher after
that time"
On cross-examination witness stated that
he mad called upon Mrs. Belcher upon the
occasions referred TO because II was his busi-
ness to solicit funds, and he had understood
from members Of the church that she was
wealthy.
At this point the court adjourned until af-
ternOOn.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
Court came in at o'clock.
Rev. Osro Roys. testified: II am cler-
81 man, and reside at Canton. became
acquainted with Mrs. Sarah s. Belcher
In the spring Of 1872. l went to Pennington
at that time. from Bates Theological School,
to supply the Free Baptist pulpit. In en-
deayorlng to raise money to support the gos-
pei for year, called upon Mrs. Beleher. l
asked her If she desired to have me estab-
llshed there in the church. as there had not
been any services for some time, and she
said she did desire it very much. She said
she thought they were very negligent In al
lowing the meetings to 90 down, in not sup
porting the meetings. | told her that had
called upon that business, that had seen
Brother Smart, and he had promised me that
if she would give S25 for the support of the
preaching he would see that the balance Of
$500 was raised to furnish a supply from the
Theological School. l asked her II she
would give the s25. told her that had
come to be honest with her, and that IL she
did not give the S25 1 should try no further,
and that If she did that settled the matter
that we should have preaching. said, win
you promiseT 'Well,' she said, May not